There’s a shopping area close to my house where a tofu shop and a butcher stand side by side, with a vegetable store a few shops away.
While taking a stroll recently, I saw blocks of tofu displayed in a water tank, cuts of meat on shelves, and piles of green onions and Chinese cabbage. It made me think: “It’s good to have yosenabe [stew].”
The yosenabe hot plate season has not quite started, but I’d like to draw attention to a haiku by Seison Yamaguchi (1892-1988).
Yosenabe ya
Mukashi mukashi no
Hito omou
It means:
Yosenabe,
I think of people
from old, old days
Autumn nights are not so bad, the poem suggests.
In my mind, I set about cooking the various ingredients I saw in a pot. And while it’s a rather unusual image, the Liberal Democratic Party’s hidden intentions in the presidential race–which five candidates are contesting–can be found in my imaginary pot.
The five candidates include men with experience, young talents and the first woman to contest the LDP presidential race.
Many of them are well versed in specific policy areas.
The LDP is apparently thinking that if these various “ingredients” are given time to boil in voters’ heads–with steam billowing out of the pot–it will stimulate their appetite and work to the advantage of the LDP when the House of Representatives is dissolved for a general election, the countdown of which has started.
But in the end, this is an imaginary pot. Only one person will be elected president of the party–whether it will be Green Onion-san or Tofu-san.
But if the candidates can boil down their respective policy proposals through debates and on the stump, and create a stock that can help a new cabinet execute policies, the presidential race that has been derided by the opposition camp as a farce will not be meaningless.
Let’s listen to the political views of each candidate, while being careful not to be deceived by any sugar-coating candidates may apply.
The Yomiuri Shimbun. Musings. The following is a translation of the Henshu Techo column from The Yomiuri Shimbun.
野党から茶番と批判される総裁選・・・ 編集手帳 八葉蓮華
自宅のそばに商店街がある。豆腐店と精肉店が軒を並べ、何軒か隔てて青果店がある。散歩の行き帰りに水槽の豆腐を見、肉の棚を見、ネギや白菜の山を見ると、「寄せ鍋もいいな」と思う◆鍋の季節には早いが、山口青邨(せいそん)の一句、〈寄鍋やむかしむかしの人思ふ〉秋の夜もわるくないと。目に映る別個の食材が、頭のなかの鍋で煮える。妙な連想だが、５氏の立候補した総裁選に込めた自民党の思惑もこの“空想鍋”にあるかも知れない◆経験の人あり、若さの人あり、初の女性あり、分野分野の政策通あり…多様な食材が有権者の脳裏でぐつぐつ湯気を立て、食欲を刺激することができれば、秒読みに入った解散・総選挙で有利に働くと読んでいるだろう◆所詮(しょせん)は空想の鍋で、ネギさんであれ、豆腐さんであれ、総裁の座を射止めるのは一人である。それでも、討論会や遊説を通じて互いの政見をじっくり煮込み、灰汁(あく)を取り、新内閣の政策運営にうまい出汁(だし)が残るのならば、野党から茶番と批判される総裁選もその意義は小さくない◆変な甘味料に舌がだまされるのを注意しつつ、各候補の政見を聴くとしよう。
